caa a22 4500 378903217 CHVBK 20180305123523.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161128e20041201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1515/epoly.2004.4.1.566 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)gruyter-10.1515/epoly.2004.4.1.566 On the durability of low-density polyethylene nanocomposites [Elektronische Daten] [Jitendra K. Pandey, Raj Pal Singh] Low-density polyethylene (PE) containing nano-particulate clay was prepared after functionalization with maleic anhydride (MA) by reactive grafting in the presence of peroxide followed by blending of maleated PE with neat polymer in different concentrations. Four classes of composites were obtained: (i) exfoliated, (ii) intercalated, (iii) microcomposites, and (iv) intermediate of intercalated and microcomposites, as evidenced by wide-angle X-ray diffraction. All samples were kept for artificial UV irradiation (λ ≥ 290 nm) and for composting to study their photo- and bio-durability. Fourier-transform IR spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy were used to monitor the functional group and morphological changes, respectively, whereas biodurability was evaluated by measuring the weight loss. MA functionalization and nature of composites have detrimental effects on the overall durability of composites. Nanocomposites showed higher resistance than microcomposites during initial weathering and composting with a long induction period. The stability of nanocomposites decreases with time and overall durability was worse than of pristine polymer in both environments. It was concluded that the initial protection is due to the filler-generated long diffusion path, which decreases the oxygen diffusion through the matrix. The bio-durability of composites decreased with oxo-degradation. Biodegradation of PE nanocomposites during composting follows the mechanism described by Albertsson et al. as evidenced by FT-IR spectroscopy. © 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. Pandey Jitendra K. Polymer Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune - 411008, India; Fax +91-20-5893234 aut Singh Raj Pal Polymer Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune - 411008, India; Fax +91-20-5893234 aut e-Polymers De Gruyter 4/1(2004-12-01), 566-578 2197-4586 4:1<566 2004 4 epoly https://doi.org/10.1515/epoly.2004.4.1.566 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1515/epoly.2004.4.1.566 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pandey Jitendra K. Polymer Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune - 411008, India; Fax +91-20-5893234 aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Singh Raj Pal Polymer Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune - 411008, India; Fax +91-20-5893234 aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- e-Polymers De Gruyter 4/1(2004-12-01), 566-578 2197-4586 4:1<566 2004 4 epoly CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-gruyter